AFD Group grants €10 million loan to the Foundation to promote microfinance

© Philippe Lissac

A €10 million loan has just been granted by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) Group, represented by its subsidiary Proparco, to the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation. This loan will enable the Foundation to expand its support for microfinance institutions, which provide assistance, primarily in Africa, to populations excluded from the traditional banking system. The AFD Group has also committed to supporting the Foundation with a €900,000 grant that will enable the implementation of a microinsurance technical assistance program.

Nearly 4 out of 10 adults worldwide do not have a bank account. That's 1.7 billion people excluded from the traditional banking system. This issue is at the heart of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation's work. For nearly 12 years, it has been financing and supporting microfinance institutions that serve populations excluded from the traditional banking system, primarily women (85%) and rural populations (82%), in some forty countries.

Supporting the Foundation since 2013, the French Development Agency Group is granting a loan of 10 million euros to the Foundation to strengthen its work in favor of small and medium-sized microfinance institutions based mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa.

A €900,000 grant to support microinsurance

In Africa, the insurance penetration rate is significantly lower than the global rate. However, insurance is a lever for economic and human development. It has a significant impact on improving quality of life and protects human capital from certain risks, avoiding the need for emergency adaptation strategies.

Since 2011, the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation has supported microinsurance, notably through research activities and technical assistance projects for the institutions it supports.

Thanks to the €900,000 grant awarded by the French Development Agency Group, the Foundation will be able to develop its technical assistance offering in microinsurance to the organizations it supports.

“We share with AFD the ambition to contribute to the fight against poverty and inequality throughout the world. We are very proud of the trust the AFD Group has placed in us for many years. Thanks to this new financing, we will be able to strengthen our work in support of microfinance institutions, particularly in Africa. We will also be able to strengthen our capacity to support the development of insurance products and services, including agricultural insurance. This partnership will enable the institutions’ clients—low-income households, women, small farmers, and micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises—to better protect themselves and be more resilient,” said Eric Campos, Managing Director of the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation and Director of CSR at Crédit Agricole SA.

"While the coronavirus crisis could jeopardize the activities of many African entrepreneurs, access to financial services is, more than ever, an essential lever for supporting the private sector and reducing inequalities. In this context, I am proud of the Agence Française de Développement's mobilization alongside the most vulnerable African businesses, particularly in the informal sector. This is the purpose of the partnership with the Grameen Crédit Agricole Foundation, through which the AFD Group is continuing its commitments to financial inclusion. By enabling the Foundation to increase its portfolio of loans, capital, guarantees, and technical assistance to microfinance institutions, the AFD is acting to strengthen the African population, the most enterprising in the world," said Rémy Rioux, Director General of the Agence Française de Développement.

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